Victors Aren't Really Victors
by LangerotJake
Summary: Two Best friends from District Twelve are picked to compete in The Hunger Games...
1. The Reaping

**Author Notes: I don't own The Hunger Games. But I do own the tributes, stylists, and mentors. Please R&R : )**

I wake up to the noise of banging in the kitchen, I crawl out of bed and stumble to the kitchen. There I find my mother cooking a small meal for my sister and I. Today isn't just an ordinary day, it's reaping day.

"Good morning sweety", says my mother.

"Good morning" , I say as I wipe my eyes.

"Go wake up your sister and then we can eat", says my mother.

"Mkay", I say as I walk out of the kitchen.

As I walk down the hall I find my sister standing in the doorway.

"Come on, Mom has breakfast I say to my sister, Keike Tyke.

We walk together toward the kitchen in silence. We take a seat at the kitchen table and take small bites of our food.

"Are you ready for today Skyler?", my mother asks me.

"Worried, but ready", I say in response.

We finish our food in silence. After our plates are cleaned, my mother tells my sister and I to go get dressed for today's reaping. So I walk silently to my room. I put on my dark red dress and my shoes, and walk to the sitting room for my mother to fix my hair.

"You look adorable", says my mother.

"Thanks", I say.

My mother puts my hair in a simple ponytail on the back of my head. Minutes later my sister walks in wearing a baby blue dress and silver sandals.

"You kids ready?", asks my mother.

"Yep" my sister and I say in unison.

We walk out the door and walk to the square in silence. When we arrive at the square there is a small crowd gathered for the reaping. We say good-bye to our mother and find our way to the other kids our age.

"Hey" I say to my friend Kathren Vates.

"Hey, nervous?", Kathren asks me.

"Yeah", I say.

"Me too", she says.

At that moment the tribute escort, Buffie Elrose, with her neon green hair, stands up from her chair and walks to the podium.

"Good Afternoon District Twelve!". We have a very very very big day ahead of us!"

Then she reads a long speech about The Hunger Games and why we have them.

"Let's do it a little different this year", she says after she finished the speech. "Gentlemen first!"

She reaches her hand in the bowl of paper slips where each one has a name of a boy in our district. She pulls one out, clears he throat and says:

"Vance Lender!"

Oh no, not Vance! His father was killed in the mines with my father a year and a half ago! Him and I were best pals since then!

"Let's have a round of applause for our male tribute this year! Any volunteers?", says Buffie.

The crowd goes silent.

"Okay, lets go on too our female tribute!", says Buffie as she reaches her hand into the bowl.

This is when I start shaking. Then I hear it. Those dreaded words. The words I hoped I would never hear here.

"Skyler Tyke!"

_Flashback:_ I'm walking through a field of grass with my father in the spring, my fathers favorite season. The day after the reaping. He says to me "How was your day?" "Fine", I say as we near our old worn house. We walk into the kitchen and my mother asks me the same question and respond "Fine". We sit down at the table and I pick at the forth of a slice of stale bread sitting on my plate. That was the last night I ate a meal with my father. Not knowing what drastic changes tomorrow would bring. _:End of Flashback_

I can't even focus now, I feel as if I might faint. Kathren taps my shoulder.

"Skyler?"

"W-What", I say as I snap back into reality and walk slowly to the stage.

"Any volunteers?" Buffie asks.

Again, the crowd goes silent.

"Well lets have a round of applause for our two tributes for this years Hunger Games!", Buffie says.

Vance and I shake hands, and I can tell from the look in his eyes he is about to burst into tears. I hug him to comfort him, knowing it won't do much, I let go in efforts to hurry up the process of Buffie's blabbering. Then Buffie says good-bye to the crowd and we follow her into the Justice building.

**Author Notes: How'd you guys like it? Please Review : ) Criticizing is cool, it just makes me better : ) Thanks ~Jake**


	2. Nothing Will Ever Be The Same

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games! Just the characters in this story. : ) Please R&R.**

I'm in a different world as we walk into the Justice Building. When we are inside a peacekeeper takes Lance down a long hall into a room and another peacekeeper takes me down another hallway into a room with dark wooden floors and red velvet couches. I hear a slight knock on the door and I say quietly "Come in."

"Hello darling", my Mother says quietly. I'm sure she's on the edge of bursting out in tears.

"Hi Mom, Hi Keike", I say.

"How are you feeling?", my Mother asks.

"Not good at all", I respond.

"Here this was your Fathers", my Mother says as she hands me a small wooden circle connected to a worn leather strap that someone could wear as a necklace.

"Mom, Thank you", I say as I start crying. "Now Keike", I say. "You behave and mind Mother. Bryan (one of my only friends) will give you food. Don't starve yourself but don't stuff yourself."

"Okay", Keike says softly.

The peacekeeper gives a knock at the door and says its time for them to leave. I give my Mother and Keike a hug and tell them I love them. Before the peacekeepers come in and drag them out Keike says to me "Come back, please?" We all start crying and the peacekeeper drags them out.

I hear another knock at my door. Who else could it be? I have no family except my Mother and Keike. No friends. Who else could it be?

"Hey" I hear. The voice is familiar but I can't figure out who it is. Until they walk into the door. It was Vance. He must have snuck out of his room and ventured to my room.

"What are you doing here? The peacekeeper let you leave?", I ask.

"No, I snuck out. There wasn't a bathroom in my room. I asked to go and came here.", He replies.

This is why Vance is my best friend. First off I'm not a girly girl. He is also so interesting. Sometimes he can be an angel, then he's the devil.

"Oh, You feeling alright?" I ask.

"Not at all", He responds. "You?"

"Nope", I say.

"Listen", He says. "Meet me in my bedroom on the train. We got to work out a plan for the games."

"Okay, you better get back to your room. They will probably be looking for you anytime now.", I say.

"Okay, see ya", he says as he sneaks out of my room.

A few minutes later Buffie comes in and grabs my arm.

"Come on girly, we're boarding the train.", she says.

"Okay", I respond as I get up of the soft couch and walk with Buffie towards the door and out the Justice building to our train. The train we will be boarding to take us to the Capitol. The place either I will die, or 23 other kids die. Including Vance.

I see Vance boarding the train and run over to him and say "Hey."

"Hey", Hey says. He must be worried about something. I can see it in his eyes. Not that we are heading to the Hunger Games. Not the face I saw when we were reaped. Something has happened and I think it will have a great impact on how well he will play the games. I know tonight's meeting won't just be planning. It will be a time full of grief. He will tell me what's wrong. And not to mention we are on a train to take us to our deaths. We board the train in silence and follow the peacekeepers to our bedrooms. Nothing will ever be the same. Vance or I will be dead. So will 22 other kids. And who knows what has happened to Vance. The train whistle blows and the train starts to move… I can see District Twelve fading in the distance. And I think to myself 'I'll never see home again'…

**Sorry for being so short. I promise they will be longer as we get further into the book. Please review. : ) ~Jake**


	3. A Single Kiss Upon My Lips

**Authors Notes: I don't own The Hunger Games, just the characters in this book : ) I have another book called It's Going To Be A Big, Big, Big Day! Again… Please enter a character in that book and I'll add it to the games : ) Please R&R. Also If anyone has any ideas of an arena idea can you post in with your review or send me a message. I think I have an idea but I'm open to any new ideas! Thanks ~Jake**

District Twelve is fading away as I finally look up from the window. I'm sitting in red velvet chair just like the ones in the Justice Building. I find Vance sitting right beside me.

"Hope one of us will see District Twelve again!", I say.

"Hope so", He replies.

Buffie rushes into our room and exclaims "Lunch is Ready!", in a Capitol accent.

"Okay, We'll be there soon", I say.

We walk down the hall until we reach a room that has a long wood table, a dozen or so chairs, and a nice white tablecloth with gold embroidery. And food. Tons and tons of food. More food than anyone in District Twelve has ever seen. Anything you could think of was here. We take a seat beside each other on one end of the table.

"Well, what are you waiting for?", asks our drunken sponsor Gabriel Dawson. Our only alive winner from District Twelve. We've actually had two winners. The other winner got killed after the games. All he did was sit in a tree the whole time while the other 23 tributes killed each other. When there was only two tributes, he decided to get out of the tree. He noticed some berries he hadn't seen before. It had to be the game makers. He knew a lot about wild plants, but he didn't recognize this one. Note he hadn't ate in a day and a half. He decided that he wouldn't take a chance and just picked them and scattered them among the forest before he went to hide in another tree. While he was sleeping that night, the other tribute was searching for him. She hadn't ate in a day also so the game makers ran her to the forest with a tornado. She found the berries he had spread on the ground and just like that, BAM, she was dead. And he was the winner. So from then on everyone hated him for making the games boring. During the Victory Tour in District Three he was on the stage and from one of the rooftops someone fired a gun and hit him right in the chest. He died instantly. That's why we only have one winner.

"There's too much to choose from", says Vance.

"I know!", I say.

"Well we better get to eating", says Vance as I load a pile of mashed potatoes onto my plate. Drenched it with Gravy and took a huge bite out of it. Oh how it tasted so good. Its crazy. I could have ate it years before now, when I'm not in danger of dying, but instead I'm eating it on a train that's taking me to my deaths. That and me not knowing what' worrying Vance takes away all the good flavor in it and replaces it with a burnt, sad taste.

We finish eating lunch and we can do whatever we want to do. So I go locate Vance. I find him in a room lined with books on the wall. He is looking at a book called Knots for Beginners. I say "Hey" and he looks up from his book

"Hey", he replies looking back at his book.

"Whatcha doing?", I ask.

"Learning how to tie knots, thought it might be important in the games.", he replies.

"Probably will be", I say. "Well, what was wrong earlier?"

"Something back at home", he replies.

"What is it?", I ask.

He closes the book and puts in on the table beside his chair. And say "During our final good-bye's a strange man came into my room and handed me this.", He holds out a small round dish with the code E3 on it.

"What can it be?", I ask.

"No clue", he replies.

"Well, I'll let you return to the book. I'm going to go look around.", I say as I turn around and head the other way. I look at the clock on the wall and see its 3 in the afternoon. We'll be heading to dinner soon so I go to my bedroom and check it out. It's a blue and white room. Not my taste. Too boring. So I head down to the dining room. While I head toward the dining room I hear them announce over the speakers that it's time for dinner. When I arrive at the dining room, they seem surprised to see me. I automatically sit down and gulp down a ton of food. Not waiting for anyone to talk. Vance is just now walking in and I'm walking out. Did he bail on the planning tonight? I go over to him and whisper in his ear "When' the meeting", and he responds with a movement that indicates that I should go to his room. His room is a dark red and brown color. I sit on the bed waiting for him. He walks in the door and locks it behind him. We plan for a while. We talk about allies, our game plan, and our attitude. Vance is going with strong and curious. I'm aiming for sweet and sexy. I'm leaving his room when he says my name. "Skyler." I look at him and he walks to me. And kisses me. I don't push away or kiss back. I just stand there. He can't do this too me in this situation. He pulls back and says "Bye.", and I walk out of the room in shock and make it to my room.

I see the district rolling by one by one as we pass them. We will be in the capitol tomorrow. I can't fall in love with Vance. I'll have to either kill him in the games or watch him get killed. At the end of the day, most likely we will both be dead and a victim to the Capitols games. I drift into slumber not long after I lay down.

_My name is Skyler Tyke, I'm 16 years old. I'm from District Twelve, I was a tribute in the Hunger Games, and I will most likely die in the Hunger Games._

_**Authors Notes: How'd you guys like? It's a bit longer. Please review and message me if you want Skyler and Vance to be in a relationship during the games. Thanks! ~Jake **_


	4. The Capitol

Disclaimer: I don't own The Hunger Games, just the characters in this story : ) Please R&R. : )

**When I wake up the sun is shining in through my window. Out the window I see rows upon rows of houses. Huge houses. Must be District One. I can't believe the sizes of these houses! Since we're in District One we aren't far from the Capitol. I get out of bed and step into my house slippers and walk out into the hall. I head straight to Vance's room. I knock on the door and no one answers so I step in. I don't see Vance in there so I step out and go down the hall. I find Buffie, Gabriel, and Vance helping themselves to a table covered with food. **

"**When were you going to wake me?" I ask.**

"**We were going to, but you looked really tired", Vance says.**

"**Mhm", I reply.**

**I take a seat at the table and load my plate with a wide variety of things. Pudding, lasagna, peaches, rolls. Everything looked so good! I enjoy all the food and when I'm done I stand up and walk to the library. In the library I find a book called The Basics of Food Finding. I open it up and read about many types of plants and berries. I've finished the book and I'm putting it back on the shelf when Vance walks in. **

"**Hey", he says. **

**I put the book and the shelf and turn and say "Hey."**

"**We're almost to the Capitol.", He says.**

"**Okay", I say.**

**Then a voice over the speakers comes on and tells us that we need to go to our rooms and our prep team will dress us. I say "Bye" to Vance and walk out of the library and into my room. When I enter my room I find two girls and a boy waiting for me with tons of dresses and shoes and makeup. I walk in and say "Hi."**

"**Hello", The boy says in a capitol accent. "My name is Augusta and this is Aphrodite and Dahlia. We are your prep team." **

"**So what am I wearing?", I ask. **

**They push a cart of dresses across the room and have me pink my favorite. I pick a light green ruffled dress. It's real short and has a big bow across the top. Goes perfectly with sexy and sweet. I pick out a pair of green shoes and go try my new outfit on. I put it on and step out of the room and the prep team exclaims "Wow, amazing, super!", They ask if I like it and I say "Sure do", They then put me in a chair and start applying makeup to my face. They shave my arms and legs and wash my hair. After they wash it they put it into a braid that goes across my head and straighten my hair. They apply some silver and green eye shadow. And I now have my Capitol presentation outfit. **

**I'm called for a small snack, some crackers and cheese as we arrive into the capitol. Vance is in a stunning suit with a green rose in the pocket. Coincidence? The buildings are tall. Huge! We step off the train and the cameras start. Flashes everywhere! We walk into a tall building, the training center. We will train before the games and sleep here. We are assigned level twelve, our district number. We go to our rooms and these rooms are huge! We are told that our prep team will be coming to get us ready for the chariot ride, where all the tributes dress in something that represents their district. I have no clue what we will be wearing probably something black. Then we will have interviews then training then death…**

**Authors Notes: So sorry its so short. I wanted to do the chariot ride in a different chapter : ) Please Review and I'll update soon : ) Thanks ~Jake**


	5. The Phoenix From The Fires

Authors Notes: Please R&R and message me if you would like Skyler and Vance in a relationship. Thanks : ) ~Jake

I wake up the next day with no covers over me. I must've had a bad dream. I get up and make my way over to my closet to put some comfortable clothes on. Today was the chariot ride where we all will get in chariots pulled by horses around the town and join in President Snow's front yard. I put on some sweatpants and a tee-shirt and a hoodie. I put a pair of slippers on and head out of my room for breakfast. Vance is in the kitchen eating a plate of waffles.

"Hey", he says.

"Hey, ready for today?" I ask.

"Not ready for the makeup", he says as he laughs, "We gotta do it", he says.

"Yeah, I guess so", I say.

We eat breakfast and go brush our teeth in our bathrooms.

Gabriel walks in an says in a low drunken voice "Come on, I'll take you too your prep team."

"Might as well, most help we'll ever get from you." I whisper to Vance, and he laughed.

"Here is your rooms and your prep teams will be in there." He says. "Peace"

"See ya" , we say.

We walk in the rooms, mine is made of glass walls, and glass floors. I see my prep team walk out from an office it looks like. They're carrying measuring tapes and other thinks to measure me. I let them measure me in silence then Aphrodite breaks the silence.

"You looked beautiful yesterday for the ten seconds you were out in public", she says.

"Yeah, I can't believe I had to dress up just for that!", I laugh.

"This year we will make you and Vance stunning." She says.

All three of them walk out into the "office" and its back to silence. I sit on a white curved chair and relax. Waiting. About fifteen minutes later, they walk out of their "office" and they're carrying a masterpiece! Most beautiful thing I have seen, and I get to wear it right before my death. They're carrying a dress, maybe made of burning feathers. The headpiece is a veil made of the same burning feathers. It's beautiful. I walk over to it and exclaim, "W-W-Wow!"

"Let's try it on!" Says Augusta.

I slip off my clothes and put on my new fiery dress. Slip the headpiece on and glare into the wall. I look like a phoenix. A bird made from the fires from hell. Amazing!

"What's Vance's costume?", I ask.

"You'll have to wait and see", says Augusta.

I am led to the elevator. We stop on floor 7 to let a person on. A girl that is in a lab coat. Her hair is a green color and looks tangled. I say "Hi", and we are silent till we get to the bottom floor. I see all the other tributes. One boy is in a fish net that is bunched together around his area, another boy is in some leaf underwear, must be from District four and eleven. I see a few girls that have some nice dresses but nothing as nice as mine. District One's girl is wearing a sparkling silver dress with a big diamond necklace and diamond earrings. Another girl with a beautiful blue/green dress and seaweed as a necklace and a hair band. Then I see Vance. He looks stunning in the suit with coal embers on it, kind of like sparkles but way more stunning. I join him by our horses and he speaks.

"Wow, you look amazing", he says.

"Thanks, you look stunning also", I tell him.

Our horses are a dark black with darker manes and tails, their harnesses are a red with embers on it, it looks like.

The national anthem plays and the first district's cart leave the room. We hear the crowd yelling and next goes Districts two's cart. We are District twelve we are last. There are three more carts left and there goes District Ten's cart. Vance reaches over and takes my hand. Then we are out in the crowd. The crowd goes silent and they start chanting "District Twelve!"

I wave to the crowd and put a smile on. We wind around the streets and we are now in President Snow's front yard. He comes out of a door on a balcony, and waves.

"Hello Panem, these are our tributes for this year Hunger Games. Let's give a warm welcome! The crowd claps and is still chanting "District Twelve!" "This year's arena will be a very special arena. Tributes be ready, many tricks are up the game makers sleeves."

Our horses turn and follow the other horses to the training center. The door closes and you can hear shouts from the crowd. "District Twelve!" We grab our bags and go back to our rooms to be changed out of our clothes. I go change and head to my room, I see Vance crying as is comes from the elevator. "They shot some people! Just because they were cheering for us!"

Authors Notes: How'd you guys like? Please review : ) ~Jake 


	6. That Question, The Question I Hate

**Author's Notes: Please R&R, I'll update about every other day. Please give me ideas in reviews or send me an inbox message. Also please make a character for my other story. Thanks! ~Jake**

I rush into Vance's room, he's laying on his bed.

"What's happening?", I ask.

"They, they shot people.", he says. "Apparently you aren't supposed to show favorites before the games."

"Wow. This is ridiculous." I say.

Tomorrow we'll have private training and then our interviews, then the games. Woo, cant wait!

"Well, lets get to bed tomorrow is the day before the games." I say.

"Kay, Night!", He replies.

I walk into my bedroom, walking slowly. I overhear Gabriel talking about the games. "We're doomed. We should send a weapon at the first, tell them to go far away from the cornicopia and find a safe place, and we'll get them the weapon. We just need some good training scores.", He says

Looks like I know what I'm NOT going to do. I walk to bed and go to sleep.

"Yo, get up. Hurry!", I hear. It's Gabriel. Here to take me to the training center for private training.

"I'm coming!", I say.

I get up and walk into the bathroom and brush my teeth. I find a black and silver tracksuit laying on my bed. I pick it up and take it to my bathroom and put it on. I brush my hair and walk to the kitchen and eat breakfast. No one is in there, so I know I'm really late. Good thing I'm from District Twelve. If I wasn't I would be late. After I gulp down breakfast, I walk to the elevator and go down to the basement. I see its only the boy from District Eleven, Vance, and now me. I take a seat by Vance and wait for the District Eleven girl come out of the room. When she does the boy stands up automatically and walks right into the room. Next thing I know Vance is walking out of the room. I stand and walk in there.

I see the Gamemakers standing in the glass compartment up to the top of the room. I decide I'll show off my knife skills and trap skills. I grab a robe and die it into a very complex series of knots and loops and I have made my trap. I tie it to both sides of the room and walk back a few feet. I grab a knife and throw it at the trap. It slices right through it. I've now shown off my trapping skills and my knife skills I walk out of the room and go to the elevator and go to our floor.

I sit on the couch and grab a bag of chips. Waiting for the scores to appear on the screen.

"Hey", I hear Vance say from the hallway.

"How did you do?", I ask him

"Fine, I think", he says.

"Me too. Exactly how I wanted it.", I say.

"Lets wait for the scores", he says as he sits on the couch and grabs some chips from the bag.

Shortly later, the scores appear on the board. The 12 year old from District Five, Amelia Bonnet, got the lowest score. A Four. Everyone else around six to eight. The highest is a nine from the boy from District Two, Stormy Nazdo. Then pops up our scores. A ten for Vance and eleven for me.

"Oh my Gosh!", I exclaim. Well I did what Gabriel wanted. Get a high score.

"Nice!", Vance says.

We walk to the kitchen and put up the chips. We will now have to go get changed for the interviews.

"See ya!", I say.

"Bye", He says.

I walk down to my prep team's room and knock on the door.

"Come in!", I hear Augusta say.

"Hello", I say as I enter the room.

On the mannequin I see a short silver dress with black through it. Looks sweet and sexy too me. I put it on and my prep team throws me into a chair and does my makeup and hair. They tweeze my eyebrows and cover my face in makeup. I walk out of the room looking like a supermodel. I head down to where the filming will be taken place at. I see they are already on District Nine's girl. I go and sit my Vance. He's wearing a nice tux with a silver tie.

"You look amazing", I say.

"So do you.", I say.

We sit and wait for all the interviews to get over. Vance stands up, and goes into the filming set when its his turn. He returns ten minutes later.

I walk onto the stage and sit on the white chair beside Caesar.

"Hiya", I say to him.

"Hello Mrs. Tyke.", He says. "How do you feel about your training score?", he asks me.

"I was so excited and surprised. I did what I wanted to and it worked!", I say.

"Good, Good", he says.

"So how do you feel about the games?", he asks.

"I feel pretty good. I think I have my strategy for the games", I say.

It has to be almost over. It's been almost ten minutes. My palms are sweating and I'm getting out of breath. Then he asks his final question.

"So I heard you and Vance are in a relationship. Is this true?"

**How do you guys like? Please Review. And please make a character in my other book. Thanks! ~Jake**


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